Blind Alley

by Iris Johansen

  The dog howled again.

  “This could be a break,” Bartlett called after him. “If you can get to the dog before the girl, you might be able to take down Aldo.”

  “I know that.” And if he didn't get there in time, Jane MacGuire would be either butchered or taken prisoner. Some break. It wasn't the scenario he'd have planned if given a choice.

  Well, choices had been few and far between since this macabre charade had begun. He'd have to take the hand that was dealt him. Don't think about the girl. Forget her. This was the closest he'd been to Aldo since Brighton. Think only about what he'd do to him when he got his hands on him.

  Toby howled again.

  She was closer.

  Toby's last howl had sounded much nearer.

  She stopped on the trail and closed her eyes, waiting for him to howl again.

  If she could get a fix on his location, then she wouldn't be so vulnerable. She knew these woods. She and Toby had run and played over every inch of them for years. The minute she figured out the location, she could picture it and find a way to get there without blundering into Aldo's trap.

  “Come on, Toby,” she whispered. “Tell me where you are.”

  He howled again.

  To the south. At least a hundred yards from here. Concentrate. Don't think what Aldo is doing to make him howl. He's alive. Now keep him alive. A hundred yards south. There was nothing but a glade surrounded by pines.

  Where better to stake out Toby than an open glade? To get to him she'd have to go through the pines where Aldo would be waiting. At the thought her hand unconsciously closed on the butcher knife she'd taken from the cutlery drawer in the kitchen. Would she use it? The thought of stabbing someone made her shudder.

  But it didn't make that bastard flinch. He'd killed before and now he wanted to kill her.

  And he was hurting Toby.

  Hell, yes, she'd use the knife.

  Okay, was there any other path she could take to elude Aldo?

  Not unless she circled around and entered the lake in the one place where the pines were scraggly and sparse. She would be able to see any waiting attacker as she approached from that angle and, if she was careful, he wouldn't see her as she crawled up on the bank.

  Was there any other way?

  Toby howled again.

  If there was another plan, she had no time to discover it. She had to get to Toby.

  She moved quickly to the edge of the lake, took off her shoes, and waded into the cold water.

  Jane!”

  Eve jerked upright in bed, her heart pounding.

  Joe opened his eyes, totally alert as he always was when he woke. “What is it?”

  “Jane.”

  “Is she having another dream? Did you hear something?”

  “I didn't hear—or maybe I did.” She threw the covers aside. “I'm going to go check on her.”

  Joe sat up on one elbow and watched as she grabbed her robe and headed for the door. “I didn't hear her call—” He stopped, tilting his head, listening. “Go check on her.” He swung his legs to the floor. “Now.”

  She was already flying down the hall.

  Empty bed.

  No Jane.

  She ran to the bathroom. “Jane!”

  Jane's nightgown lay in a pool on the floor.

  “She's gone?” Joe was behind her. He'd pulled on his jeans and was shoving his arms into his wool sweater.

  She nodded numbly. “He's got her. He just came in and got her.”

  “I don't think so. He would have to be pretty stupid to try to get by Mac and Brian.” He pulled the sweater over his head. “Get your clothes on. I'll meet you outside.”

  Eve didn't argue. “Where are you going?”

  “To the squad car. They might have seen her.” He headed down the hall. “Or Toby.”

  “Toby?”

  “I didn't hear Jane call out, but I thought I heard Toby howling.”

  Terror iced through her. “Oh, God.”

  “Maybe I was wrong.” He opened the screen door. “Toby doesn't often—”

  And then they heard the howl.

  The dog was staked out at the edge of the glade. All four legs were tied and his left hind leg was bleeding in several places.

  Trevor muttered a curse. Christ, he hated those bastards who preyed on the helpless. Children and animals should be exempt from the cruelty of the world.

  Yeah, sure. No one was allowed a free pass. He should know that by now. Close out the anger. Where was Aldo?

  He had to be somewhere close to Toby to make the poor animal howl.

  Trevor adjusted his infrared glasses and then studied the nearby trees.

  Nothing.

  His gaze shifted to the left.

  Noth—

  Maybe.

  Yes!

  A blurred shadow but definitely a human shape.

  Aldo.

  He moved silently forward through the underbrush.

  The cold wind struck Jane's soaked clothes and sent a shudder through her body. She scarcely noticed as she crept through the sparse trees toward the glade. Be careful. The full moon that enabled her to see would also allow her to be seen. So far her memory had served her well. The glade should be right ahead. . . .

  And then she saw him.

  Toby!

  Tears ran down Jane's cheeks as she caught sight of Toby's bleeding leg.

  Hurt. That son of a bitch had hurt him.

  And was going to hurt him again.

  Someone was coming across the glade. It was too dark to distinguish anything about his appearance except that he had a large, powerful body, medium height and shoulder-length hair that could be sandy.

  But there was nothing blurred about the glitter of the knife in his hand.

  He dropped to his knees beside Toby.

  “No!”

  She didn't even realize she was running toward him until she'd almost reached him.

  “Don't you touch him!”

  He swiveled on his knees. “You're here.” His voice was exultant. “I knew you'd—” He screamed as the knife in her hand entered his shoulder. “Bitch!”

  His own knife lunged upward.

  A hand closed on her shoulder from behind, spinning her away from that deadly knife. “For God's sake, get out of here. Now!”

  Trevor?

  A crashing in the underbrush. Voices. A dozen flashlight beams pierced the darkness of the trees surrounding the glade.

  Aldo cursed and leaped to his feet. “Whore. I told you not to bring anyone. Did you think I wouldn't kill him?” His knife plunged down toward Toby.

  “No!” She leaped forward but Trevor was already there, knocking Aldo to the ground and then rolling sideways to protect Toby.

  “Stop! Lay down your weapons.” Joe's voice. Joe running out of the forest toward them.

  Aldo was cursing as he struggled out from under Trevor. The next moment he was on his feet and running toward the cover of the trees.

  “Okay, Jane?” Joe asked, and when she nodded, “Eve and Gunther will be here in a minute. You stay where you are, Trevor.” He took off after Aldo with the four policemen on his heels, guns drawn.

  Jane fell to her knees, her anxious gaze on Toby. Aldo's knife thrust had not gone home, she realized with relief. “It's okay, boy. Everything's going to be fine.” She crawled the few steps toward him and started sawing through the ropes binding him. “No one's going to hurt you again.”

  “You shouldn't have run at Aldo,” Trevor said in frustration as he got to his feet. “Why the hell didn't you give me a few minutes more? I'd have had him.”

  “He was going to hurt Toby.” She didn't look at him. “No one hurts my dog.” But someone had hurt him, she thought in agony as she looked at the wounds on his leg. They appeared shallow but one was still bleeding. “Give me something to wrap around his leg. Everything I have on is soaking wet.”

  “I don't have time for canine first aid. I have to get out of here before Quinn gets
back. I've no desire to end up in jail while Aldo is running free.”

  “After you give me something to wrap around Toby's leg.” She glared up at him. “Take off your sweater.”

  He gazed at her in disbelief and then started to laugh. “You look like you're freezing. You need it more than he does.” He pulled his sweater over his head and tossed it to her. “Anything else?”

  “No.” She turned back to Toby. “If you go south over the hill, you'll find a drainage pipe that will take you to the highway. I'll tell them you went north. It may buy you enough time to get away.” She wrapped the arm of the sweater tightly around the dog's leg. “Go.”

  “I'm going.” He stopped as he turned to leave. “May I ask why you're helping me?”

  “I don't want you in jail either.” She stroked Toby's head. “I can't be sure Joe will catch Aldo. No one else has been able to do it all these years. If Aldo gets away, I want everyone in the world to be on the search. You may be everything Eve suspects you of being, but you want to catch him. I saw that tonight and you know things. . . .”

  Toby turned his head and licked her hand and it nearly broke her heart. “Poor boy . . .”

  She glanced up at Trevor and added fiercely, “I'm going to catch him, Trevor. He's not going to hurt any animal or woman again. Now get out of here so that you can help me do it.”

  He smiled and slowly nodded. “By all means.” He ran south through the trees.

  She could still hear Joe and the policemen crashing through the forest as she held the compress over Toby's wound. They might catch him. Lord, she hoped they did. Anyone who would torture a helpless animal was a total monster. On one level of her mind she had understood how evil Aldo must be but it had taken this cruelty to make it sink home.

  “Let me look at it.”

  She turned her head to see Eve standing a few feet away. “The bastard didn't sever any arteries. I think he's going to be okay.”

  “I wasn't sure you were going to be okay.” Eve turned to Gunther hurrying behind her. “It's okay, Mac. Go on after Joe and the others.”

  He nodded and took off at a run.

  Eve dropped to her knees beside Jane and looked down at Toby's leg. “When I saw him lift that knife, I nearly had a heart attack. And then when he didn't kill you, I wanted to murder you myself.” Her hands were shaking as she tightened the compress. “Why didn't you tell us, dammit? Don't you ever close us out like that again.”

  “He said he'd kill Toby. He's my dog. I was stupid. I should have kept him inside. It never occurred to me that he'd go after Toby. My fault. He's my responsibility.”

  “And you're our responsibility. How do you think we'd have felt if he'd killed you?”

  “Terrible.” She met Eve's gaze. “But you'd have done the same thing.”

  Eve's glance fell away first. “Maybe. It was Trevor who tackled Aldo? It was pretty dark, but I thought I recognized him.”

  She stiffened. “Did Joe?”

  “Probably. And he must have realized he was helping you.”

  “He saved Toby.”

  “But then he ran away.”

  “He knew Joe would still have arrested him.”

  “As he should do.”

  “He saved Toby,” she repeated. “And he'll do us more good out of jail.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “He wants Aldo.” She stroked Toby's head. “And I don't care about forging documents and impersonating a police officer and all of that stuff. If he can find him, then that's all that matters.”

  “Maybe it will be a moot point if Joe catches Aldo tonight.”

  “I don't think he will.”

  “Why?”

  She shrugged. “Just a feeling. I don't think it's his time.”

  “I hope you're wrong.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Where's Trevor?” Joe was striding toward them, his expression grim. “Which way did the bastard go?”

  “Aldo?” Eve asked.

  “We lost him for the moment. He had a motorboat parked beneath the trees. I sent an all-points bulletin out. We may still pick him up.” He looked down at Toby. “How is he?”

  “We'll have to get him to a vet right away but I think he'll be fine.”

  He turned back to Jane. “Which way did Trevor go?”

  She hesitated. She hadn't realized it would be this difficult to lie to Joe. “North.”

  She felt Eve's startled gaze on her face. That's right, she must have seen Trevor take off toward the drainage pipe. She looked Eve in the eye. “North,” she repeated.

  She waited.

  Eve was silent a moment and then looked down at Toby. “I'll need a couple men to lift Toby on a stretcher and get him to a vet.”

  Jane felt relieved and guilty at the same time. It was bad enough to lie to someone she loved, but now she had pulled Eve into the deception.

  “I'll get Mac to arrange it.” Joe turned away. “I'm going to be busy.” He strode toward the policemen standing at the edge of the glade.

  “Thank you,” Jane whispered.

  “Don't thank me.” Eve gave her a cool glance. “I did it because I agreed with you and I didn't want to put Joe on the spot by asking him to go along with a lie.” She looked over her shoulder at Joe and then smiled. “And the point may not even be applicable. He's splitting up the force and sending some of them south. You should have known Joe was too sharp not to read you. We may be having to do some explaining.”

  Jane sighed resignedly, her gaze on Joe, who was gesturing with his usual dynamic forcefulness toward the south. “Well, I did my best. Trevor's on his own.”

  “I'm sure he doesn't expect protection from anyone.”

  “I didn't do it for him, I did it for me. I may need him.”

  “Don't talk like that. I know you're upset about Toby but you leave Aldo to Joe and the department. You're out of this, Jane.”

  “Tell that to Aldo. He doesn't think I'm out of it.” She gently stroked Toby's head. “And I know I'm not. I just have to wait until the next time comes around.”

  “Next time?”

  “He'll come back. He'll always come back. Until one of us is dead.”

  “How can you know that? This attempt may have discouraged him.”

  Why am I so positive? Jane wondered. The words had come from her lips and mind with absolute certainty.

  The circle. Inescapable, always there, always repeating.

  But she couldn't say that to Eve. Why should she understand when Jane couldn't? “A hunch.” That was as true as any other explanation. She changed the subject. “I saw his face. Not clearly, and just for an instant. But I'll be able to give Joe a sketch.”

  “Good. But he would rather have had Trevor.” Eve raised her head. “Here comes Mac with the stretcher for Toby. I'll be glad to get both of you home.”

  He was bleeding.

  Aldo could feel the blood running down his shoulder, but he couldn't stop to tend it. He had to reach the bank where he'd hidden his car and get out of here before Quinn chased him down. It didn't hurt anyway. He was too full of rage and frustration to feel pain.

  The bitch. She had sunk her fangs in him and then lived to see him run like a fox from the hounds. He'd not even been able to punish her by killing the dog.

  Trevor's fault.

  Trevor barging in and interfering. Trevor stepping in front of Cira and keeping him from punishing the whore.

  Whore. Yes, that's what she was. She'd managed to ply her wiles on Trevor and he was now as much her slave as all the others. Why else would Trevor have tried to save the dog when he could have taken his shot at Aldo?

  Bitch. Whore. She was probably laughing at him.

  Not for long, Cira. I almost had you. You're not such a difficult target.

  Next time.

  Move!” Trevor said to Bartlett as he jumped into the car. “Get out of here.”

  “I take it we're being chased?” Bartlett stomped on the accelerator as he moved onto the
freeway. “Aldo?”

  “Quinn and the ATLPD.” Trevor glanced at the side mirror. “No one yet,” he murmured. “Maybe she did toss him a red herring.”

  “The girl?”

  Trevor nodded. “I wasn't sure. She's not predictable. She could just as well have told me to go this way and then had a covey of police cars waiting for me.”

  “Maybe she's grateful to you for saving the pooch.”

  He grinned. “And maybe she's mad as hell and not going to take Aldo's crap anymore. That's more likely.”

  “Is that what she told you?”

  “More or less.”

  No, that was exactly what she had told him. Every glance, every angry word had been layered with determination. “She was a little pissed about her dog.”

  “I can't blame her,” Bartlett said. “Dreadful fellow, Aldo.”

  “You're a master of understatement.”

  “And apparently considerably more competent than you. You were so sure you'd get him this time.” He gave him a sly glance. “But don't be upset. Every man meets his Waterloo.”

  “Shut up.” He closed his eyes. “Just get me out of here. I need to sleep and then do some thinking. One step forward, two steps back. It's been a hell of a night.”

  “All may not be lost. Quinn may have caught Aldo.”

  “Then we'll know about it when we see the news tomorrow. Until then we'll assume the bastard got away.”

  “We're going to the lodge?”

  “It's as safe as anywhere. Safer than staying here in town. Quinn is bound to have put out an APB on me.”

  “No doubt. It would be much smarter to move on.”

  “I can't move on. Aldo isn't going to budge from the area as long as Jane MacGuire is here.” His lips tightened grimly. “And that means I have to dig in, too.”

  No sign of either of them,” Christy said. “We've scoured every acre of your property and the APB is coming up zero so far.”

  “Dammit.”

  “It's only been two days. How's Jane doing?”

  “Cool as a cucumber.”

  “Toby?”

  “He had to have stitches, but he'll be fine. He's fine now. He's lying on his dog bed in Jane's room getting belly rubs and eating turkey.”